Historical dataset of osteological and archaeological records for equines on Crete
Vera Klontza-Jaklova,
Michal Smíšek,
Romilda Nevěčná,
Nikos Panagiotakis,
Manolis Klontzas,
Ricardo Fernandes
Affiliations
Vera Klontza-Jaklova
Department of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Arna Nováka 1, 60200 Brno, Czechia; Institute for Natural and Cultural Heritage, Nové Sady 2, 60200 Brno, Czechia; Corresponding author at: Department of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Arna Nováka 1, 60200 Brno, Czechia.
Michal Smíšek
Institute for Natural and Cultural Heritage, Nové Sady 2, 60200 Brno, Czechia
Romilda Nevěčná
Department of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Arna Nováka 1, 60200 Brno, Czechia
Institute for Natural and Cultural Heritage, Nové Sady 2, 60200 Brno, Czechia; Archaia Brno, Bezručova 15, 60200 Brno, Czechia
Ricardo Fernandes
Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Department of Archaeology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Department of Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland; Princeton University, Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton, NJ 08544-5623, USA; Department of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Arna Nováka 1, 60200 Brno, Czechia
We gathered evidence on the occurrence of equines in the island of Crete from the Neolithic until 1895. We relied on published archaeological and osteological records plus on historical written documents. Our dataset includes a description of the type of evidence, where this was located, and the associated absolute and relative chronologies. The collected data can be used to investigate the past spread of equids in Crete (Equus asinus and Equus caballus), their socioeconomic status, and the development of the local Cretan breed. The dataset is made available via the Abraxas data community within the Pandora data platform. This community is devoted to the historical study of horses. The dataset presented here is a component of a project tracing the history of the Cretan horse until present day.
